Petitions A collective term embracing the various procedures for bringing complaints before treaty bodies. Petitions may consist of complaints from individuals alleging violations of a treaty by a State party or from State parties alleging violations of a treaty by another State party (inter-State complaints). Pre-sessional working group A working group convened by some treaty bodies before or after each plenary session in order to plan their work for future sessions. The work of the pre-sessional working groups differs from committee to committee: some draft lists of issues and questions to be submitted to each State party before its report is considered; some committees with competence to consider individual complaints use their working groups to make initial recommendations on cases and other matters related to the complaints procedures. Pre-sessional working groups usually meet in closed session. Recommendation A formal recommendation or decision issued by a treaty body. The term has been used inconsistently to describe formal decisions on specific matters or resolutions of a more general nature, such as those resulting from a day of general discussion. Concluding observations contain specific recommendations and the term “treaty body recommendation” is sometimes used synonymously with “concluding observation”. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women also refer to their general comments as “general recommendations”. Reporting guidelines for State parties Written guidelines produced for State parties by each treaty body on the form and content of the reports that States are obliged to submit under the relevant treaty. Some committees provide detailed guidance article by article, whereas others give more general guidance (see HRI/GEN/2/Rev.6). Reservation A reservation is a statement, however phrased or named, made by a State by which it purports to exclude or alter the legal effect of certain provisions of a treaty in their application to that State. A reservation may enable a State to participate in a multilateral treaty in which it would otherwise be unable or unwilling to do so. States can make reservations to a treaty when they sign, 54